Johann von Staupitz

Johann von Staupitz (1460-28 December 1524) was a Christian theologian and the mentor of Martin Luther.

Biography
Johann von Staupitz was born in Motterwitz, Electorate of Saxony, Holy Roman Empire in 1460, descended from an old Saxon family of Czech origin (his ancestors' surname was originally Stupic). In 1485, he joined the Augustinian order in Munich, and he became dean of the theology faculty at the University of Wittenberg when it was opened in 1502. Staupitz met Martin Luther in 1506 and convinced him to take academics more seriously, counselling him and becoming a mentor to him. He opposed Luther's turn to heresy, however, but he understood Luther's complaints; he released him from the Augustinian Order to allow him to act freely, but also to ensure that the order's name was not blackened. He became a monk in Salzburg in 1522, and he died two years later.